Toddler Album

What You Need: Photos of all family members; People Who Love Me photo album for toddlers from the Chinaberry Catalog (www.chinaberry.com or 1-800-776-2242).

Doing It:

This is a great gift for a grandparent to make and give a grandchild. Children as young as two years show interest in photos. Help them develop an early sense of connection to their entire family through their very own photo album.

Says Ann Ruethling, founder of Chinaberry:

A few years ago, a couple of toddlers I knew had a book similar to our People Who Love Me photo album. They carried these books around in their chubby little fingers almost everywhere they went. They slept with them, played with them, and sometimes even ate with them. Often, when I would visit their home, I would find them plopped on the living room floor gazing at the photographs of all the people who loved them. Their albums were filled with grandmas and grandpas, cousins, friends and siblings, and of course, their mama and papa. They loved to just look at these pictures over and over again.

Chinaberry has had a special toddler album custom made to their specifications. The album is small, barely bigger than a 4 x 6 inch photograph -- the perfect size for small fingers to hold and manipulate. It's sturdy but soft, with an outside of deep blue velvet. It's designed to hold 20 photos -- big enough to hold plenty of relatives, but not too big so it's difficult to fill. What better way to build self-esteem and a sense of connection in a grandchild than a book filled with the smiling faces of all the people who love them?